Page 15

Dammit, Huntyr. Get to them. Get to Lord.

Vampyres had invaded before, of course, but with Lord and the rest of us Phantoms living within the city, they never got far.

The buildings grew more and more dense. Eventually, I began running into people—other fae who had heard the screams and instantly panicked. I didn’t blame them; I would have done the same if it weren’t for my training.

Instead of running away from the danger, however, I ran toward it.

Straight fucking toward it.

The crowd grew thicker and thicker as I forced myself onward, pummeling through the narrow streets and around sharp corners. Half the damn buildings were nothing but fallen stones that only made it harder for me to maneuver quickly.

But I made it work.

Closer and closer to Lord, closer and closer to home.

The pain in my back was nothing but a memory now, adrenaline pumping through me with every trained motion.

Another scream.

I stopped cold.

I knew that one. It sounded familiar. It sounded like…Rummy.

Nothing else mattered. I changed direction and pivoted straight for it, my hand gripping my weapon like my entire fucking life depended on it.

Hells, maybe it did.

I heard the first vampyre before I saw it: grunts and half-breaths from a stumbling, rotting corpse. And that smell…

The aura of death pulled me in the direction of the monster, beckoning me ever-closer. I spotted it around a corner, stumbling after an unnatural need for blood.

Disgusting.

It took me three strides to make it to the vampyre and one swift motion to slide my dagger into its back, piercing it through the heart.

Killing it.

That’s one.

The body crumbled and fell to the ground with a sickening thud. I stepped over the body without looking. My eyes focused in the darkness, looking for the next beast.

Two more came sprinting out of the nearby alleyway, surprisingly fast for the lack of muscle on their bones. I threw myself into action and slid Venom across the gut of the first one, not slowing down for even a second as I spun and stabbed the second one in the neck.

That wasn’t enough to kill it, though. Vampyres still required fatal blows, and I wasn’t taking any chances. I pulled Venom from the neck and pierced the closest vampyre in the heart before shoving the body aside and doing the same to the gutted creature.

They both fell to the ground with sick grunts.

I held back my vomit. More screams rang out in the air around me, which meant more vampyres. Many, many more.

I didn’t miss a breath before jogging down the street and locating the next vampyre.

And the next.

There had been vampyres in Midgrave before, sure, but these seemed to be after something. Unless they had aimlessly followed each other to this portion of Midgrave, they were all searching for the same thing.

I swallowed those thoughts; I would worry about it later.

Right now, I had to worry about killing.